The Pan Asian Cohort Study Data Source & Privacy

The PACS study will use the electronic health records of Palo Alto Medical Foundation patients 35 and older who are identified as Asian or Caucasians for comparison. All study records are stripped of personal identifiers (i.e., there are no names, birthdates, social security numbers, or any other way the researchers can identify people). Patients will not be asked any additional information for the purposes of this study.

PAMF takes the privacy and confidentiality of patient records very seriously, and has an Institutional Review Board to approve all research projects that request even de-identified patient records. In PACS, there is no way the research team can trace information back to specific patient records. All data will be kept on secure, fire-walled machines on PAMF premises.